To improve safety, reduce tire wear, and increase fuel economy, certain classes of motor vehicles are required or soon will be required by statute to have tire pressure monitoring systems. These systems are capable of sensing tire pressure for each tire at each location on the motor vehicle and communicating the pressure data to the driver. Typically, a pressure sensor and other associated circuitry specific to each wheel are mounted on each tire.
In order for the tire pressure monitoring system to operate correctly, the tires are typically inflated to a placard pressure value. Conventionally, a hand-held tire gauge is used to determine whether the tire is sufficiently inflated. In this regard, after the tire is inflated, the driver attaches the gauge to the tire, obtains a tire pressure measurement reading, and compares the obtained reading to a placard tire pressure value. Depending on the reading, the driver adds more air or takes air out of the tire. At times, however, the tire gauge may be faulty and/or may give inaccurate tire pressure readings inaccurate. As a result, the tires may be overinflated or underinflated. In other instances, the driver may not have knowledge or access to the placard value. In such cases, use of a tire gauge is ineffective. In yet other instances, a driver may not have a tire pressure gauge.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system and a method for accurately determining whether a tire is sufficiently inflated. In addition, it is desirable to reduce the amount of hardware that is needed to determine whether the tire is sufficiently inflated. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.